Janice deRosa - Afro blues

"A great singer and a Wonderful mix of blues & african music."
Recommended.

(1998)
Janice deRosa: lead vocal
Djeli Moussa Diawara: Koras, vocals
Michel Fernandez: Latin and African percussions
George Wolfaardt: doublebass
Sissokho Yakhouba: kora
Fabrice Angier: acoustic guitar

Link
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Hossein Alizadeh & Djivan Gasparyan

Endless Vision
(2005)

"Endless Vision unites Armenian virtuoso Djivan Gasparyan on duduk (an eight-holed, double-reed flute made of apricot wood, derived from the regional shepherd's flute) and Iranian master Hossein Alizadeh on tar and shurangiz (new Iranian lute). Their live 2003 outdoor performance at Tehran's Niavaran Palace was accompanied by a trio of singers (in Armenian, Azeri and Persian), Armen Ghazaryan (duduk), Vazgen Markaryan (bass duduk), and the Hamavayan Ensemble (vocals, oud, shurangiz, percussion).

Born in the Soviet Republic of Armenia and trained at the Komitas Conservatory of Yerevan, Gasparyan is responsible for elevating the duduk to classical status in Armenian traditional music. His career began in 1948 with the Tatool Altounian National Song and Dance Ensemble and the Yerevan Philharmonic; some listeners may recognize his work from the soundtrack of Martin Scorcese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Gasparyan has recorded with Peter Gabriel, the Kronos Quartet, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and numerous others.

Alizadeh began his career in the late 1970s after studying Persian classical music at the University of Teheran's School of Music; he conducts the Iranian National Orchestra of Radio and Television, and enjoys an international reputation as a soloist and composer at home and abroad. This meld of Persian and Armenian songs unfolds slowly and dramatically; the musicians and singers give one another plenty of room to explore the delicate nuances of these complementary and evocative musical traditions, whose microtonal character is accented by the plaintive duduk and the extraordinary overtone singing of Hourshid Biabani, Afsaneh Rasaei and Ali Samadpour. Reflecting upon this remarkable performance ought to call into question the wisdom of perpetrating in Iran the militarist folly and human sacrifice that already haunt Armenian and Iraqi history. By contrast, as Gandhi observed when asked his opinion of Western civilization, "It would be an excellent idea." - Michael Stone

Link
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Planète Sauvage - Planète Sauvage (2007)

Planète Sauvage debut album « Planète Sauvage EP » stand out distinctly with its singular character, beyond the vogue and so, really modern.
By listening this four original compositions, you could perceive sounds and also images, like a movie constantly updated so, I think about W.Wenders, D. Lynch and R. Laloux of course, especially his philosophycal and psychedelic animation « La planète sauvage ».
Electronic and electro-acoustic, this EP is also a mix of musical genre, look like a travel accross the continents, a travel book full of pictures and souvenirs.

So, enjoy and « bon voyage ».

Recommended

Download (Mp3@320): rapidshare
Mirror: Sendspace
Genre: Ambient, Space Rock, World, O.S.T
Website: PlaneteSauvageSound

Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone several personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only continuous member. Drummer and composer Klaus Schulze was a member of an early lineup, but the most stable version of the group during their influential mid-1970s period was as a keyboard trio with Froese, Christopher Franke, and Peter Baumann. Early in the 1980s, Johannes Schmoelling replaced Baumann, and this lineup, too, was stable and extremely productive. Tangerine Dream's early "Pink Years" albums had a pivotal role in the development of Krautrock. Their "Virgin Years" and later albums became a defining influence in New Age music, although the band themselves dislike the term.

Atem
(1973)

The fourth album of Tangerine Dream, and the last before they would sign with Richard Branson's burgeoning Virgin Records label, Atem (meaning "Breath") ranks among their most enigmatic. The album is less static than the previous Zeit, but overall continues along the quiet, ambient pathways.
Not at the start, though. With an opening rivaling the majesty of Popol Vuh's "Aguirre," the first 5� minutes of the title track makes you feel like you are inside a huge, ancient, Egyptian temple. The sound, defined by a repetitive motif on Froese's mellotron (the instrument's first appearance with TD) and Franke's tribal tom-toms, is an all-encompassing sanctity and awe. The percussive pace quickens to a climax, but then dissolves into a void of white light. It is after this great opening that the remainder of the track goes to minus eleven, like having been instantly teleported to the surface of an alien terrain so remote, astronomers wouldn't even bother to put it on their charts. But even while so removed, prog and Kraut fans should recognize the territory well. It is the rock-meets-electroacoustic avant garde style also explored by peers Klaus Schulze, Cluster, and early Pink Floyd: minimal, usually atonal organ mixed with unsettling electronic sounds (e.g., humming reverberation, sizzling noises, trickling). Perhaps it is "Fauni Gena" that best encapsulates the meditative and mystical feel that pervades the album, beginning with an aria of flute mellotron and proceeding along to string mellotron, all surrounded by naturalistic sounds and occasionally whispered voices. The interesting thing about this track is how organic and synthetic it manages to sound at once. Listening to it, you could imagine yourself being in the Garden of Eden, or conversely in some futuristic simulation of an aviary or rainforest. The final track, "Wahn" (German for "delusion"), splashes some cold water into the listener's face, with prehistoric vocalisms and screams that at the same time have a clear studio reverb to them, before closing out with some more tom-tom and 'tron magic.
A minus that warrants mention: similar to the other earliest Tangerine Dream albums in the Castle reissue series, though this boasts "digital remastering" done in 1995, the sound remains substandard with significant vinyl buzzing, particularly in the opening of "Atem" where it most matters. It's too bad that the band hadn't quite made it to Virgin quite yet, where the original master tapes most likely would have survived in reasonable condition. Barring the sound, this is one that most prog fans should hear and most hardcore Krautrockers probably already have. It seems to be less talked about relative to the other albums they made around this time, such as Alpha Centauri, Zeit, and Phaedra. If you want easy listening, go with Frank Sinatra. But if you want something more challenging and exploratory from this period of popular music, then Atem is an inevitability.
(Ground and sky)
Link

Phaedra
(1974)

The watershed album for Tangerine Dream was this, their first release for Virgin Records, Phaedra. If Zeit was music recorded on Jupiter, this was music recorded on Pluto: icy, distant, alien. The beginning moments of the title track always manage to bring shivers up my spine, as we are gently blown by a jet stream from up above, until slowly descending down into a mechanical throbbing like something you'd imagine hearing in a mad scientist's lab or in the shadowy corridors of an H.R. Giger painting. Gradually, this throbbing speeds up, until an angelic mellotron choir parts the waters. Soon over this, enter a wavering mellotron string lead, swirling in and out like quicksilver, and in the hands of VCS3 manipulation, almost sounding like a Moog at times. This early climax, perhaps the most incredible section of the title track, then hangs a sharp left turn unexpectedly into a new terrain of pulsing sequencing that would become the band's signature for the remainder of the 1970s. This similarly builds slowly to a peak, before screeching to a halt altogether once it reaches its top limits. Then the listener is left alone on an immense, deserted beach, with only synth-gulls and lonely mellotron to provide companionship. The haunting disorientation of the children's playground in the distance is the icing on the cake. On my remastered CD, this is placed as the beginning of the next track, "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares," and as I never owned the original LP I assume that's where it should be — but for me it will always be the close of title track."Mysterious Semblance" is pretty much Froese and one of the all-time classic mellotron tracks: ten minutes of pure, unadultered 'tron beauty. To date, the only other track I've heard yet that equals it as a mellotron showcase is Popol Vuh's "Aguirre." Despite its foreboding title, it is for the most part a soothing, peaceful piece, and one that can't help but evoke the blue and white upper-reaches of the sky, especially with the windy bursts of white noise that augment the mellotron's song. The two remaining tracks, "Movements of a Visionary" and the Baumann-composed, quiet-as-a-whisper "Sequent 'C'" are also quite strong.Phaedra remains Tangerine Dream's most recognized and best-selling album today. Despite this, it also thankfully remains a challenging work to absorb, to the extent that I'm somewhat surprised it enjoyed the commercial success that it apparently did. In any case, we're talking indispensable stuff with this one. With the move to Virgin and improved production, Phaedra represents peak work from this band--a classic of ambient and electronic music that sounds just as great today as it did back then.
(Ground and sky)
Link

Rubycon
(1975)

The follow-up to the band's phenomenally successful debut, Phaedra, on Virgin Records, Rubycon is measured in two parts coming in at a very tidy and well-used 34 minutes.
The opening six minutes of "Part One" make for a warmer opening than that of Phaedra. Arising out of the murky depths of shimmering organs, Froese and friends bask the listener in lush swashes of keyboards, the musical equivalent of an aurora borealis sweeping away gently in the distant arctic. However, it is at around the seven minute mark and with the advent of echoing metallic sounds that a more ominous atmosphere begins to take over. Not soon after, the pulsing synth beats and string mellotron that are associated with the band's peak period arrive. Notice how when it begins the pulsing subtly expands from 4/4 to 5/4 to 6/4; I love bits like that. As this section of the piece picks up in dynamic, it reminds me a lot of something one might have found on Pink Floyd's Meddle, even with the same seabed organ sounds and backwards crescendo effects that were used to great effect on "One of These Days."
"Part Two" follows a similar structure to "Part One." It begins with a free-form, rhythm-less opening primarily comprised of audio warping that increases and decreases slowly in register. This dissolves into a void of vocals. At around five minutes, this prelude once again gives way to an echoing, sequenced bass pattern and processed string mellotron. These continue along a steady plane with all manner of effects whisking by, before eventually collapsing back into amorphousness at just under twelve minutes, then finally arriving at an end state of repose (flute mellotron).
This album paints a vast, abstract picture. I would say it is more accessible and less diverse compositionally relative to Phaedra, but by no means less mysterious or powerful. Like its predecessor, Rubycon is another classic Tangerine Dream work that is a must-have for those who want to experience the band on their game.
(Ground and sky)
Link
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François Rabbath

"The sound of a bass definitely came as a revolution in the history of the contrebass, for the record divided that history into a "before" and an "after". The album marked the beginning of a new era for the instrument : it revealed new possibilities and new facets that had remained either unsuspected or simply unexploited beforehand.
Even thought this album was only the first opus recorded by François Rabbath, it already contained all the ingredients that would make him such a gigantic pioneer of the contrebass. Not only did he not disown the instrument's accompanying role - a remarkable accompanist -, but François Rabbath also made a great contribution towards giving the bass a distinct soloist's role, and that a early as the sixties.
Right from the very first track you can glimpse that this is not just a matter of technical prowess; the composer's intention is above all to take us into a singular universe in musis, and he does so by broadening the langage of the bass to encompass multiple styles without allowing the discourse to lose any of its coherence. It's all the more noticeable because we immediately lose all our references, indeed our prejudices or a prioris, and let ourselves be invaded by the bassist's formidable sound, notably with the bow. Without a doubt, the album's title coudn't be more appropriate.
It has to be said that the formidable technique developped by Francçois Rabbath - with no reference to any particular school - allows him unprecedented freedom and richness of expression on his instrument. Without ever becoming a demonstrative exercice, each piece on the record reveals a new facet of this Impressionnist playing, some new aspect that has forceful powers of evocation.
On the original sleeve, François Rabbath gave his own thematic index for the twelve pieces in this album, giving listeners some key indications so they could follow him through these successive tableaux or, rather, "short films".
Probably for the first time, this emancipationof the contrebass - or rather its new eloquence -was accompanied by intonation that had faultless precision, the fruit of an innovative technique that was both rational and rigorous. Some listeners will perhaps even wonder if this is indeed a bass when they hear the artificial harmony produced in the upper-treble register in "prelude à l'archet" or "bitume" and then there's also the extreme rapidity of the double-strings in "creasy course" , or the mysterious ponticello tremolos of "walpurgis".Others will be just as surprised simply to hear the instrument sing on all these compositions dedicaded to melody. And while I'm on that subject, melody, I'm particularly fond of "ode d'espagne" it's a moving composition for solo contrebass played pizzicato, and a precise evocation of the music of andalusia and the spain of de Falla and Albéniz.
Choosing to associate the contrbass with the drums was probably a first, and it turned out to be particularly efficient. The playing of Armand Molinetti, full of swing and finesse, serves the album magnificently: he polishes and punctuates the bass-lines with continual care, ensuring their legibility, and on each piece he seeks out the timbres and grooves that are the most appropriate.
There's nothing didactic or experimental about the "sound of a bass" , it directly addresses music-lovers in the widest sense of the term, which certainly explains the huge popularity this album enjoyed on release.There's no point in trying to put a label on this misic - everyone can find his own references in it - and anyway I believe it's better to listen to it as adiscovery, to just let yourself be carried away by your own emotions. François Rabbath is definitely one of those musicians whose style you can recognize right from the very first note, and it deservedly earns him a place as a particularly creative artistic genius, someone quite out of the ordinary, which is certainly why today, more than forty years after it was first released, this record - the quest for the universal cintrbass - touches and moves us so deeply."
"Renaud Garcia-Fons"

The Sound of a Bass & N°2 (limited edition)

Link (mp3@vbr"extreme)
mirror
Link
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Mustt Mustt

1990
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is the undisputed master of Quaali (Sufi devotional music). This album, produced by Michael Brook (guitarist for Peter Gabriel), veers into contemporary territory, merging western influences and instrumentation with the brilliance of Khan's traditional artistry and spiritual passion. His extraordinary deep-throated vocal style, fiery and ecstatic, fuses devotional poetry with swirling harmonies of world beat rhythms, fluid extended guitar lines, synthesizer, bass, Indian tabla and harmonium. A world fusion classic.
Link
or
Link
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Senem Diyici

A few good style descriptions of Senem Diyici Quartet :
"The bop of the Bosporus of the cat-like woman Senem Diyici, who sails smoothly from sweet meanders to sparkling dances, a chamber world music, acoustic and playful" Telerama

"Their music is a combination of traditional and classic Turkish music and European Jazz. The lyrics are based upon the poems of Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian poets from the 16th and 17th century. The result that comes from this musical message combined with the Indian rhythms of Ravy Magnifique, the jazzy harmony from Alain Blessing and Philippe Botta and the voice of Senem Diyici is marvelous. " El diaro de Mallorca

BIOGRAPHY (taken from press journal) :
She came to this world in the year of 1953, in the Oriental metropole of Istanbul. Senem was raised by a Kurdish mother and a father of Armenian-Azeri origin. They lived in Sisli, the European quarter of Istanbul,populated by many cultures, like the Greek, Armenian,Hungarian, French, Turkish, Jewish and Italian. These cultures became her roots, influencing her, feeding her, making her understand and live life as a citizen of the world to let her voice be heard.
Already at an early age, her father discovered the quality of his daughter's voice. He began to teach her the classical Turkish songs and stimulated her to listen to records and to the popular and classical songs on the radio. At the age of six he enrolled her in the children's choir of Radio Istanbul, where she soon became soloist in the choir. In the mean time the bond between Senem and her father grew tight. To Senem he was her role-model, her example; a man with dreams, pains and joys, which he tried to express in his poems and paintings.
When Senem was ten years old, she was sent to the National Conservatory of Istanbul, where she studied the theory and particular characters of the traditional Ottoman music for more than six years. But, of course as any youth at any time, Senem discovered the popular and traditional Turkish music,and began to refuse the classical teachings. Also in this period young Turks came to learn about American and English music. To Senem this was a real shock, so much so, that it changed her musical conceptions altogether. Against the advise of her teacher at the Conservatory, she recorded her first record in 1969 ('Nar Hanim' Melodi Musik Prod.). After this, Senem began to work as a professional singer and quit the National Conservatory. In 1971 she started to explore different areas of Turkey. At that time she merely wished to collect the spirit of her peopie, through traditional songs and music. Travelling with her tape-recorder, she met many people, sailors, city folk, countrymen and women, who gladly shared their heritage. She ended up with more than 600 traditional songs and ancient poems that became the basis of her actual work. The gipsy in her awakened, the travelier being open to cultures surrounding her, came free. She expanded her mind in an amazing musical and spiritual meeting with people she met on her way. Back in Istanbul Senem recorded her second album (1973 'Ham Meyva' - Yanki Productions), but felt the strong need to explore the music of the world and decided to leave her country.
That's how she got to Europe. Having travelled a difficult road and full of both beautiful and painful memories, she knew she now had the chance to expand her musical meeting with musicians from all over the world. Jazz entered her life. Her music took her to Germany where Senem continued working with Jazz musicians. After some time she went to Paris where she would meet guitar virtuoso and future husband Alain Blesing. Their collaboration translated her spirit and inspiration. Senem finally found what she had been looking for all these years: a strong, spontaneous, emotional and sparkling encounter between her traditional Oriental music and her love for the music of the West. An encounter, that led to the Senem Diyici Sextet in 1989, producing Senem's third album ('Takalar' - featuring Okay Temiz - Label La Lichère).

The Senem Diyici Quartet was founded in 1991, and consists of Senem Diyici (Turkey), Alain Blesing (France), Philippe Botta (France) and Ravy Magnifique (India/France). The Senem Diyici Quartet recorded 3 albums up to 1998 ('Geste/lest' Wad Productions/Artalent 1993 - 'Divan' Artalent 1995 - 'Tell me Trabizon' Buda Musique 1998). With their music they travel the worid, enchanting 'their audiences wherever they go.
To Senemn her music is like a bridge between cultures and peopie, fusing the old and new, always searching for the spirit and the story that is within every human being. ,It has become her own heritage, through which she transmits and shares universal love and nostalgia with her audiences all over the world.

"Gest/Jest"
1993 (SenemDiyici 4tet)



Link

"Divan"
1995 (Senem Diyici 4tet)



New Link

"Tell me Trabizon"
1998 (Senem Diyici 4tet)



Link

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Stockhausen, Snétberger, Andersen, Heral

In 1997 trumpeter Markus Stockhausen and bass legend Arild Andersen started working in a duo context and added drummer Patrice Heral one year later to form a trio. On the other hand guitar virtuoso Ferenc Snétberger had been playing duets with both Stockhausen and Heral. Because of the good vibrations between all four of them it was a natural step forward when in 2002 Stockhausen, Snétberger, Andersen and Héral founded a pan-European collective working quartet based on their common artistic experiences.
Markus Stockhausen, son of classical composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, started his stage career at the age of four and was a regular member in his father's ensembles for many years. An experienced player in both classical and jazz contexts (e.g. with Ralph Towner, Gianluigi Trovesi, Michael Riessler), he approaches improvisation with a maximum of discipline and technique reaching for unmatched melodic invention. Hungarian-born guitarist Ferenc Snétberger is among today's outstanding players on his instrument. Going for a synthesis of flamenco, classical music, jazz and samba, he melts all these influences into a very personal style full of surprise, wonder and emotion. One of the world's leading jazz bassists, Norwegian Arild Andersen has recorded dozens of great albums as a leader and sideman, e.g. with Jan Garbarek, Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell and Paul Bley. Extraordinary drum artist Patrice Heral from France has been working in many multi media and world music contexts (e.g. Dhafer Youssef, Vienna Art Orchestra) and is considered by his colleagues as "Europe's Nana Vasconcelos".

"Joyosa"

Crossing the borders between jazz, classical music, world music, bossa nova and more, the quartet's debut album "Joyosa" presents a new amalgamation of today's sounds that is at the same time utterly elegant, full of joy and vibrating with vitality. But no matter what you call it: This tasteful, brilliant, highly sensitive music will speak to the unprepared listener's heart as well as to the advanced connoisseur's mind.

Markus Stockhausen trumpet, fluegelhorn
Ferenc Snétberger guitar
Arild Andersen bass
Patrice Heral drums, percussion

Link
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Esprit III Aspic project

"We have devastated mind,
our releases are chaotic.
We certainly do not deserve the word "label".
But we still have a cool logo!
WE are just Aspic records"

Fuck music business, we are back in the underground !
or why we gave up putting music on plastic !

"Here is, in a few words (I will try) my questions :
- I have tried to release Cd’s the classic way, and to distribute also. I failed (Optical sound and aspic records). I discover that the business of music has no place for me. Or that I did not want to take part of it. To be clear, I discovered thing like : if I want my cd’s to be sold, I have to get in the business, not pressing only 500 cd’s. A review in some magazine has to be paid. If I sell the cd’s, the artist will never get money from it, but the distributors and shop surely will. At the end of the story, we gave more “promotionnal” cd’s than we ever sell. And I was disgusted and lose all interest in this (I will stop here, there is so much to say).
- If I release 500 cd’s, I have to give at least 200 copies to the media. 300 copies can be bought by “real” listeners. It cost me much, and I will - in the best case - get my money back.
If I put all this online as mp3, it cost nothing, and everybody can listen to it, not only 300.
- I definitly think the cd, as an object, is a piece of shit. No picture can exist with a small size like that. The sound quality is a lie (listen to your vinyls !!!). The plastic box gets yellow when old. Nobody touch the object anymore, read the liner notes, And it is fucking expensive !!! The prices have at least increase 200% since the time of the vinyl. The media said “it is expensive at the beginning, but when everybody will buy only cd’s, the prices are going to be normal again’. This never happened.
- I recently buy again vinyls. It is a pleasure to buy those objects. For example, the White noise b&w cover looks great. As a Cd, it looks like nice-price Cd ! Or the Tes vinyl, on Lex, with traces of pen !!! On Cd, it looks like a chicken scratch !
And at my record shop, they are cheaper than cd’s ! Can you believe it ?!?
- In record shop, I only can find some styles of music. Very hard to find, for example the last Lithops, Hecker (the one on mego), the Books, Kyo Ichinose…
- I am interested in too many sounds, I will never be rich enough to buy all I want. Soulseek is definitly my main purveyor. And do not tell me I download more than I can listen. Because I do listen to all my downloads !
- when I order directly to an artist, or a label, I am sure that the artist will get some money."
(Stéphane Fransioli "Aspic founder")

First serie (1999 - 2000)
5 cd, originally released as a subscription, from 1999 to 2000.

CD 01


Download: cd1 part1 & cd1 part2

CD 02


Download: cd2 part1 & cd2 part2

CD 03


Download: cd3

CD 04


Download: cd4

CD 05


Download: cd5

Genre: Electronic, experimental, post-rock
Website: aspicrecords.com

Lift to Experience

The Texas-Jerusalem crossroads
2001(bella union)

There is no way to begin a review of this challenging album without quoting this telling opening passage from "Just As Was Told":

'This is the story of three Texas boys mindin' their own bidnis when the Angel of the Lord appeared unto them saying, 'When the Winston Churchills start firin' their Winston rifles into the sky from the lone star state, drinkin' their lone star beer and smokin' their winston cigarettes, know the time is drawin' nigh when the son shall be lifted on high'. We told 'em that didn't sound very Sunday-go-ta-meetin. 'What do you expect when the lord calls on the crippled, deaf and blind to lead the children of Israel into the promised land'. 'Children of Israel?', we asked. 'Don't you boys know nothin'?, the USA is the center of Jer-usa-lem"'.

Is this self-proclaimed "space-rock band from Denton, Texas", expecting to be taken seriously or is it merely yanking our chain? I would venture an opinion that Lift to Experience -- viz. Josh "Buck" Pearson (guitar, vocals), Josh "Bear" Browning (bass) and Andy "The Boy" Young (drums) -- is deadly serious about its debut The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads and equally serious about its being "a concept album about the end of the world with Texas as the Promised Land" and all that.

So how the heck did a space-rock band from Denton, Texas end up with an obscure British label established by former Cocteau Twins Robin Guthrie and Simon Raymonde? Raymonde explained,"When I heard the demos, I was staggered by the swagger, the effortlessness of it all. Surely they couldn't really be as cool as they sounded? A plane trip to Texas was next on the agenda, and my fate was sealed. A thunderous show (literally inside a tent during one of the worst storms in Texas history) convinced me that I had to put this record out, but also that I was undoubtedly in the presence of genius. We signed the band within two minutes of them walking off stage". The result is plain for all to see.

At its most accessible, Lift to Experience plainly evokes the grand albeit self-aggrandising big music of U2's Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum. This trait is most evident in songs like "These Are the Days", "Falling from Cloud 9" and "Waiting to Hit". This musical reference point also calls in associations with the Velvet Underground and Joy Division (the roots of U2), as well as Jeff Buckley and Radiohead (the branches of U2). At once ethereal and earthy, the wash of sonic noise that saturates much of the music here easily conjures memories of such innovative noise merchants as Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Spaceman 3.

The fact that Lift to Experience is able to vividly evoke such a myriad of cutting-edge rock forbears and at the same time marry its sound thematically with apocalyptic and biblical imagery -- reminiscent of Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and 16 Horsepower -- suggests that we are indeed witnessing an epoch-making artistic force in gestation.

Pearson's ties with the fire-and-brimstone bible-thumping brand of Christianity are clearly evident in this incendiary work -- his father abandoned the family to pursue the faith. Many of the songs are sung much like church litany, like the understated "Down Came the Angels", where the atmospheric background and echoey bass buttress Pearson's hymn-like delivery.

But what keeps this album edgy and provocative is the ability of the band to inject levity into the fairly sombre subject matter. In "Waiting to Hit", Pearson bargains with God -- "Lord, I'll make you a deal: I will if you give me a smash hit so I can build a city on the hill". On "These Are the Days", Pearson blows a kiss after intoning "blood on their teeth and lips" and he proudly proclaims Lift to Experience "the best band in the whole damn land and Texas is the reason".

This heady double album is in essence a seamless song cycle with movements that drift in and out with stream of consciousness meandering. Consumed as a whole, The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads is an immense undertaking. Our rapt attention is mirrored by the band's own compulsion, as Pearson declares on the mutant hillbilly of "Down with the Prophets", "we sing these songs because we have to, not because we want to". And in the end, the full-blooded, epic, ten-minute "Into the Storm" closes with a statement of intent, a manifesto: "Follow me over the Jordan over desert sand (Rio Grande) / Follow me . . . Israel into the Promised Land / Follow me over the Jordan over desert sand (Rio Grande) / Follow me into Texas into the Promised Land".

Whatever your answer may be, there's no denying the power of this album. It is perhaps the perfect soundtrack for these chaotic and troubled times.

CD1 & CD2

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Terje Rypdal & the Chasers

Starting out as a Hank Marvin-influenced rock guitarist with The Vanguards, Rypdal turned towards jazz in 1968 and joined Jan Garbarek's group and later George Russell's sextet and orchestra. An important step towards international attention was his participation in the free jazz festival in Baden-Baden, Germany in 1969, where he was part of a band led by Lester Bowie. During his musical studies at Oslo university and conservatory, he led the orchestra of the Norwegian version of the musical Hair. He has often recorded with ECM, both jazz-oriented material and classical compositions (some of which don't feature Rypdal's guitar).

Today, Rypdal is an important member of the Norwegian jazz community. His collaborations as guitarist and composer with other ECM artists Ketil Bjornstad and David Darling in 90s are also noteworthy. In those compositions he found a way out of jazz and classical compositions to a modern and more avant-garde unique style.

Chaser
(1985)


Terje Rypdal: guitar
Audun Kleive: drums, percussion
Bjørn Kjellemyr: basses
Link

Blue
(1986)


Terje Rypdal electric guitar, keyboards
Bjørn Kjellemyr electric and acoustic bass
Audun Kleive drums, percussion
New Link
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Pan American

For waiting, for chasing
2006(mosz)


Following on from the magnificent 'Quiet City' album for Kranky (to this day one of the biggest selling titles on Boomkat), Mark Nelson finally returns with a new album under the Pan American moniker - and it's another triumph of sublime understatement. "For Waiting, For Chasing" is underpinned by delicately caressed and manipulated Flugelhorns, Tibetan Singing Bowls and Chinese Cymbals, processed, weaved and loved into a throbbing mass of neon loveliness. Opening 'Love Song' unfolds with a gentle cacophony of whirrs - like crickets trapped in a jar - juxtaposed with the most ethereal layers of ambience tripping over each other to create a cloud of harmony; this is absolutely classic Pan American territory. Nelson never confines his music to simple ambience, moulding in noisier elements which work as a counterpoint to the warm tones of the Tibetan Singing Bowls and synthesized whisps - a conceit which manages to keep his work ever-contemporary when so many of his past peers have been stuck in an endless loop of repetition. A work of calming restraint, it's really impossible to fault this musician and his ability, with this album, to craft another perfectly-formed microcosm of bliss. Essential purchase.
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Quiet City
2004


Quiet City is the fourth album from Mark Nelson's Pan�American project and combines the computer-centric approach of The River Made No Sound with the organic instrumentation that marked Nelson's work in Labradford and the first two Pan�American albums. Three of the eight tracks were recorded with Charles Kim (Sinister Luck Ensemble) and feature upright bass, drums, trumpet and flugelhorn. �Nelson even sings a bit. �The rippling electronics and muffled beats of the first three Pan�American albums are still there; distended into elegiac, resonant, wavering, and ambient song craft. �The CD edition of Quiet City comes with a DVD that contains a video essay shot and edited by Mark Nelson and Chicago visual artist Annie Feldmeier.

As Bob Baker Fish noted "Pan�American's forte is in the studio, crafting together all manner of disparate sounds with a patience and eclecticism rarely sighted in contemporary electronica." Pan�American has released singles and contributed to compilations on labels across the world, done remix work for artists like PSI Performer and Kid 606, collaborated with the artist Thomas Demand and toured with Radian and Low. ��He has a release coming up on the brand new Mosz label as well. �The full-length video that accompanies the album is a visual meditation on the theme of the quiet city; suitable for focussed viewing or accompanying everyday activity —�an ambient video if it helps to think of it as that.

Mark Nelson: �Electronics, guitar, voice and mix
with Charles Kim: upright bass, tracks 4 and 5
Tim Mulvenna (Vandermark 5, Jeb Bishop): drums, 4 and 5
Steven Hess (Hat Melter, Bosco & Jorge, Aluminum Group): drums, 7
David Max Crawford (Poi Dog Pondering, Wilco, Stereolab): trumpet on 5, flugehorn on 7

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